Siskiyou County Supervisor Michael Kobseff will be testifying before a congressional hearing on Klamath River issues today in the nation's capital.

Last month, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, announced the committee would hold the hearing to explore the longstanding, complex and bitter battle over water resources in the basin.

It's the first time any congressional body will approach Klamath River issues head-on, and comes as water shortages and irrigation shutoffs in the upper Klamath Basin begin to add fuel to the fiery controversy.

In November 2011, congressional legislation was introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) that would greenlight the two agreements that outline the terms and conditions of removing four dams on the river for the stated goal of restoring salmon runs. The bill has languished in a divided Congress since then.

PacifiCorp, owner and operator of the dams, has agreed to remove them if Congress authorizes it, saying the cost of removal will be less than the cost of federally mandated upgrades for fish passage. The company has already begun collecting surcharges from its customers to help fund the expensive process of dam removal.

Shortly after Wyden announced the hearing, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted to send a letter to the committee requesting an invitation to testify.

The board received that invitation and on Tuesday Kobseff headed for Washington, D.C.

The Daily News reached Kobseff there by telephone on Wednesday.

Asked why it is important for the county to have a voice in the hearing, Kobseff simply stated, "Because this has been ongoing for a long time and it's a high priority, and we were invited so we came."

Most county supervisors and many local residents have been opposed to removal of the dams since the agreements were first signed by 42 stakeholder groups in 2010. The county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses to fight dam removal over the past few years.

Kobseff refused to comment on the key points of the testimony he planned to offer the committee, saying he would release that information to the press after the hearing.

PacifiCorp will also be sending a representative to testify at the hearing.

PacifiCorp spokesman Bob Gravely said, "The company plans to reiterate our support for the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement as the best of the available alternatives for our nearly 600,000 customers in northern California and Oregon, and also that the company prefers a broader settlement of these issues to continued costly and uncertain litigation."

In addition, representatives from the Karuk Tribe, Yurok Tribe, Klamath Tribes, Hoopa Valley Tribe, Klamath County Commissioners, Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, Oregon and California state government, Klamath Water Users Association, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and American Rivers will give testimony during the hearing.

Page 2 of 2 - An archived video will be available shortly after the hearing is complete. Witness testimony will be available on the website at the start of the hearing.

For more information, visit the committee's website, www.energy.senate.gov/public/.